- Christian Malford
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Christian Malford is a small village in the county of Wiltshire in England. The unusual name is evidently a corruption of Christ mal Ford, Old English moel, mal being a mark: "Christ’s mal" is Christ’s mark or sign, the cross. The name signified "Cross Ford". Deeds from Glastonbury Abbey cartulary relate to Christmalford Manor: in AD 940 King Edmund granted Christmalford to St. Dunstan, Abbot of Glastonbury.[1]
Christian Malford School recently celebrated its 150-year anniversary and the building of the school was closely linked with the building of the Great Western Railway.
The village is known to palaeontologists as the rediscovered Lagerstätte, a site of remarkably preserved fossils, in this case in the Middle Jurassic Oxford clay, in which a chance discovery in the 19th century uncovered thousands of exquisitely preserved ammonites, fish and crustaceans. The site, whose exact location had not been publicly disclosed, became most famous for squid-like cephalopods and belemnites, complete with their phosphatized soft parts. The site was rediscovered in 2008.[2]
Notes
- ^ Village web site
- ^ Philip R. Wilby et al., "Preserving the unpreservable: a lost world rediscovered at Christian Malford, UK", Geology Today 24.3, (2008:95-98); Times On-line, "Jurassic treasure trove lost by Victorians found by Phil Wilby, fossil sleuth", 24 October 2008 (accessed 20 August 2009.
External links
Categories:- Villages in Wiltshire
- Lagerstätten
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